Obsidian
by Witch Bomb
Summary: Natsu had never met his brother. Almost all he knew about him was that he had led twelve others to Earth thousands of years ago in order to protect it - and that he, along with the remainder of the twelve, had to keep protecting it. (Steven Universe-based AU)
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**(Sorry, this is kind of a long author's note, but I needed to explain some things.)**

 **I think I should start off with some information for anyone who's never watched Steven Universe: It's about sentient gems who came from space to live on Earth, and use humanoid physical forms (which are described by the characters in the cartoon as "holograms with mass"). The main character is half-human and half-gem (his mother was a gem, but had to give up her physical form in order for him to exist. I sort of changed the way that worked in this fanfiction). They are each able to summon a weapon to fight corrupt gems, and some of them have different abilities (such as Garnet's future vision and Lapis's control over water). They can also fuse together into larger gems.  
**

 **I hope this clears up a few things for anyone who wants to read this fanfiction, but has never watched Steven Universe. :)**

 **Also, I started writing this when only seven of the Spriggan 12 were revealed, and that already felt like too many (there are only three Crystal Gems in the actual show - technically four, actually, but two of them are fused together nearly all the time). So I didn't include any of the Spriggans who were revealed since then. I hope nobody minds (I did try to provide an explanation).  
**

 **One more thing: The gems in Steven Universe are all named after the gem they are (except Steven). In this fanfiction, they only use their gem names when addressing each other formally or when they're pissed off at each other. Otherwise, they'll be using their canon names.**

* * *

"Zeref! Obsidian! _Zeref!"_

The smoke billowed around the young-looking man as he scrambled through the burning piles that used to be buildings, ignoring the calls from behind him. They were worried about him. He hated worrying them, but he had to find his family.

Since his arrival in this city, Zeref (also known as Obsidian) had become close to Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel, the couple who had moved in nearby fifteen years ago. The neighbors had been kind to him and his twelve companions, even giving them the white scarf that had been passed down in their family for who-knows-how-long. Some said that the two had treated Zeref like their son; people had even begun referring to him as "Zeref Dragneel".

This city was where they, the Spriggan Gems, had landed after their escape from Homeworld. Despite their unusual appearances (they were aliens, after all), they'd quickly been accepted as part of the community here. But nearly all of them had been a part of one of the four courts that ruled Homeworld, and the Great Diamond Authority – the planet's rulers – didn't take kindly to their gems running off to live on Earth. They had vowed to find all gems who ran away from their planet; after thousands of years, they had finally found the Spriggans.

They'd almost completely destroyed this city in their search. Almost half of Beach City's population was dead. Five of the thirteen Spriggan Gems had disappeared – the remaining eight didn't want to think about what had happened: the five were probably being taken back to their "home" right now. There was no way to save them unless they wanted to be captured themselves.

Zeref stopped, giving a small gasp that was half relief and half terror as he spotted the two crumpled forms laying on the ground several yards away. Even from this distance, there was no mistaking them: Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel – and, he supposed, their son. Mrs. Dragneel had been just a day or so away from giving birth when the attack happened.

He finally reached the two bodies on the ground, tears staining his pitch-black skin, the light of the remaining flames flickering off of the circle of obsidian embedded in his forehead. He knelt next to them, reaching for their necks to feel for a pulse, breath, anything.

Nothing.

Zeref let out a sob. The neighbors who had been so kind to him and the others were gone for good, along with the little brother he'd never met – and would never meet now. There was no way to save –

"Wait…" Zeref mumbled. He could save one of them.

Using every ounce of power within him, he'd be able to give up his physical form in order for his brother to be born. The child would be half-human and half-gem rather than a full human, but that didn't matter. All he cared about right now was the fact that he was able to save one of them.

"His life matters more than mine."

Several minutes later, the other seven reached the place where Zeref was last seen. But their leader was nowhere in sight: there was nothing but a human baby with a circle of obsidian embedded in his forehead, wrapped in an unmistakable white scarf.

* * *

Natsu could still remember the day he woke up for the first time: the faces that seemed to be hovering above him, the whispers he didn't yet understand. Confused and afraid, he began to cry.

"It's crying."

"Stop referring to him as "it", Ajeel. He's male."

"So that's what humans look like when they're younger?"

"Eww. Humans are gross."

"Be more respectful. This child is all that remains of Obsidian."

"This is annoying. Mavis, how to we make him stop crying?"

"I don't know! I've never had a baby!"

"But you're a human. You must at least know how to take care of them."

"No, I'm afraid that the only experience I've had in taking care of a baby was a babysitting job I took eight years ago. I barely remember it."

"You _forgot?_ It was only eight years ago!"

There was a sigh from the human girl. "…I suppose you wouldn't understand. You guys don't forget things as easily as us."

Gradually, the people around him descended into argument. Natsu continued to cry, still not knowing what was going on or who these people were.

From the chaos in front of him, the human girl – Mavis – stepped forward. He could see her better now: long blonde hair, a white dress, and no gem (he now knew for certain that she was a human). Ashes stained her pale skin and clothes, and she had a few minor cuts. She lifted him from the pile of cushions they'd placed him on and carried him past the arguing ones. She opened the glass door and stepped outside onto the balcony; as soon as she shut the door behind her, the arguing seemed to be silenced.

Mavis stood on the balcony, watching the traffic three floors below her apartment. This part of Beach City had been untouched by those "Homeworld gems" who had invaded. Thankfully, the remaining Spriggan Gems had managed to defeat them, and were searching for a way to send them back to the Homeworld – well, they were supposed to be. Right now, they were arguing on the other side of a glass door.

Looking down, she saw that the baby – she seemed to remember that his parents were planning on naming him Natsu – had stopped crying and was fast asleep. She reached for his forehead, gently pushing back the fold of the white scarf that covered it to reveal the dark circle of obsidian embedded in his skin.

"So this really is him," she whispered. "…Sort of. I think." The remainder of the Spriggans had never really explained to her how exactly this whole thing worked.

Mavis smiled sadly. Even if Zeref wasn't with them anymore, things were going to turn out alright for their home, and for what remained of his family. That was what he would have wanted.

She took one last look at the city below her, before turning around to go back inside.


	2. Chapter 2: Red Eye

**Author's Note: It probably isn't going to be described at any point in the fanfiction where on their body everyone's gem is, so for anyone who cares where their gem is, I'll write it now (you can skip this if you don't care): Natsu's is in his forehead, in the same place Zeref's was. Serena and August also have theirs in their foreheads. Ajeel's is on his back, Dimaria's is on her navel, Invel's is on the back of his left (from his point of view) hand, Brandish's is above her chest, and Wahl's is on his shoulder (where the Alvarez emblem is in the manga).**

* * *

"Guys, I'm home!"

No response.

Natsu sighed. "I guess they're out on another mission." He frowned. "All seven of 'em? Must be pretty serious." There had been very few times when he'd come home to find that all seven of his guardians were in the house, but usually at least one of them was around. Not today, he guessed.

"Natsu!"

…Or not.

Jumping back, Natsu assumed a fighting stance as a man with spiky black hair landed a few feet in front of him, having jumped over the railing from the second floor of the house. What appeared to be an arm made of sand smashed the floorboards, missing him by a few inches. Grinning and balling his hands into fists, he charged at his opponent. Nothing like a good fight to relieve the stress of the day.

Suddenly, rather than the floor he was expecting, his foot landed on something softer. "Hey!" he cried as the translucent white platform his foot had landed on grew larger and surrounded him in a bubble. Lying flat on his face inside the sphere, he was able to see that Ajeel – or Agate – was I a similar situation… and wasn't very happy about it.

"God dammit, Invel!" Ajeel turned and slammed his fist on the side of the bubble. "You always have to ruin our fun!"

"I'm not ruining your fun," snapped the white-haired man known as Invel or Moonstone. "If you want to fight, you can. Just do it outside. I'm not having the two of you wrecking the house again." He reached over and popped the bubbles, causing Natsu and Ajeel to crash to the floor. "How was school, Natsu?"

"Boring," Natsu replied. He looked around. "So, are you and Ajeel the only ones home?"

"No, Brandish is here. She's just asleep."

"Where are the others? Isn't it usually just one or two of you going on a mission at a time?"

Ajeel stood up, dusting himself off. "Yeah, but we saw some weird thing in the sky earlier and wanted to go check it out. I didn't get to go with 'em, though. I guess they wanted the strongest one guarding the house."

Natsu's eyes widened. "Where are they? Can I go find them? Can I help fight the weird thing?"

"Do you have any homework?" Invel asked.

"…No…"

"Go do it, then."

"Dammit!" Natsu sighed. "It's not due until Monday, Invel. Do I _have_ to do it now?"

"Yes," Invel replied. "Because if I don't make you do it now, it'll get left until Sunday evening. And then you'll rush it because you left it until the last minute and don't have enough time to do it properly." He turned to head upstairs.

Ajeel watched until he was out of sight, then leaned over and whispered to Natsu. "Hey, listen. If we go right now, we can get to the beach to fight, and we'll be back quick enough for you to do your homework. Invel will never kn–"

"I still hear you, Ajeel. I'll bubble you again if you try to fight him."

"Ugh." He patted Natsu's shoulder. "We'll fight later, kid."

* * *

The house was silent – in fact, it was so quiet Natsu could hear the clock ticking in the living room. On the desk in front of him was an almost-blank page: he'd only managed to answer two of the thirty questions. And it had been half an hour.

Normally, he would be done – or almost done – by now. But he couldn't stop thinking about the "weird thing" Ajeel had mentioned. Earlier, at school, he'd heard some of his classmates talking about seeing something red floating in the sky, but the teachers had told them not to worry about it. It was probably harmless, they'd said.

Looking out of the window, he could see the Weird Thing. It was almost a dot since it was so far away, but he could see that it was red. Looking down, he was able to make out four figures standing on the beach, peering at the red dot through a telescope. Serena, Dimaria, August, and Wahl. Also known as Topaz, Citrine, Zircon and Melanite.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. Natsu stood up, turning around and heading out of his room, toward the front door – and running straight into Serena, knocking both of them over.

"Hey! Serena!" Natsu stood up. "What's the weird thing? Do you know? Can I fight it?"

Serena scrambled to his feet. Instead of answering Natsu's question, he cupped his hands around his mouth and turned toward the stairs. "Moonstone! Emerald!"

Brandish, rubbing her eyes sleepily, came down the stairs. She was quickly followed by Invel, who was still holding his book in one hand.

"This better be important if you woke me up for it," Brandish muttered.

Serena was jumping up and down. "We know what the red thing is!" The rest of his sentence was gibberish.

Invel grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to stay on the ground. "Topaz, calm down. What is it? Is it hostile?"

"Yes! It's hella hostile! It's a Red Eye!" Serena's voice was getting high-pitched with panic. Oblivious to Brandish's eye-roll, he grabbed her wrist in one hand, Invel's in the other. "Natsu, you come too!" He turned and ran down the wooden steps that led to the beach, dragging the two other gems behind him.

"Wait! What the hell is a Red Eye?" Natsu asked, trying to keep up with the trio.

"It's a… thing that we used back on Homeworld," Invel began.

"It can scout out gems on other planets," Serena continued. "Oh, it can also _create a vacuum that could potentially suck in this whole city!_ "

"Who would send a Red Eye here?" Brandish asked, glancing at the other two. "Is it from Homeworld?"

"We don't know," Serena answered. "We think it was lost in space somewhere and somehow ended up here. The Homeworld wouldn't attack now, right? It's only been seventeen years since they last got their asses kicked by us!"

They reached the sand and the three gems who were standing by the telescope. Ajeel, who had gone out to find monsters to fight earlier, wandered up to join them. Lagging behind, Natsu reached them as Brandish was peering through the telescope.

"That's a Red Eye, alright," Brandish murmured.

Ajeel snorted. "Thanks, genius. We had no clue." Dimaria smacked his arm.

"How the hell are we gonna destroy it?" Wahl asked, using his hand to shade his eyes as he peered at the Red Eye, which was now a much larger dot. "Can I blast it again?"

"That had no effect the first twenty times, Wahl," Dimaria reminded him.

Invel sighed. "This would be so much easier if Zeref were here…"

"Yeah, but he's not. So we gotta do this by ourselves. Why don't you try shooting one of your fancy arrows at it, princess?" Ajeel asked.

"If it can take a blast from Wahl, it can take an arrow from Invel," August answered.

"D'you think it could take a hit from Zeref's dark-energy-cannon-thingy?" Wahl asked.

"Well, the cannon is much more powerful than any of our weapons." Dimaria frowned. "But nobody knows where it is."

"Hey, guys!" The gems turned around to see Mavis approaching them. "What's going on? Why are you all gathered on the beach like this?"

"Beach City might be in danger," Brandish answered. She gestured over her shoulder, toward the Red Eye. "That thing may or may not be about to destroy this whole place."

Mavis looked up, her eyes widening. "Ohhh… Have you tried to fight it?"

"Nothing's having any effect," Serena replied. "The only thing that might be able to beat it is Zeref's… dark… energy… cannon…" He trailed off, looking down at Mavis.

She looked around to find that all the gems were staring at her. "…What?"

"Mavis, did you keep any of Zeref's old stuff?" Ajeel asked.

"Oh! Um…" Mavis nervously played with her fingers. "I… I don't know, I might have a couple of old things lying around in my house… but i-it's not like I…"

"Anything that looks like a giant black gun?" Wahl asked.

"Maybe. If I have that, it'll probably be in the garage."

"Mavis, go look for the giant black gun," August ordered. "Natsu, go with her."

"Huh?!" Natsu looked around. "That makes no sense! I'm literally the only one of us who doesn't know what the cannon looks like!"

"You'll know it when you see it!" Invel called over his shoulder as Natsu and Mavis turned to run toward the latter's home.

* * *

"We've searched the entire garage, Mavis. I don't think it's here."

Mavis groaned. "I don't know where it would be if it isn't here!"

"We could go look in your house." Natsu turned around. "Wait… except your house is really clean, right? So if there was a giant black gun anywhere in there, you'd know, right?" His shoulders slumped in disappointment.

Mavis frowned thoughtfully. "Um… I guess I almost never go in that second bedroom that I turned into a storage room… it's pretty cluttered in there, too. But I don't know about any giant – Natsu! Where are you going?"

"It's worth checking!" Natsu pushed through the door from the garage into the house, searching for the storage room. He eventually found a small room, the carpeted floor concealed beneath piles of boxes and various objects. Following him, Mavis flicked on the light, watching as he pushed aside old cardboard boxes, looking for the cannon.

"…Natsu?"

"Yeah?" Natsu turned around.

"I think I found it." Mavis pointed to the far wall. Against it was what looked like a military cannon: it was a giant black gun on wheels, pointing at some point on the wall between Natsu and Mavis.

"…Oh." Natsu looked down at the boxes he had knocked over in his search, feeling stupid for not noticing it there before.

"It's alright." Mavis smiled and headed toward the weapon. "You've cleared a path for us to get it to the door. The real question is how we're going to get it all the way to the beach in time for us to stop the Red Eye." She turned back toward Natsu. "Hey, you're half-magic-space-gem, right? Do you have super strength or something?"

"Nope." Natsu had followed Mavis over to the cannon and was now inspecting it. "So this belonged to my brother, huh?"

"Yeah. But I only remember seeing him use it about once. On those gems who – never mind." Mavis stared at it for a few seconds, before she sighed and decided to just try pushing it. She moved behind it and began pushing it toward the doorway. "It's heavy…"

"Need help?" Natsu asked. Without waiting for an answer, he moved behind the weapon as well. Mavis was right; it was heavy. Between the two of them, it took them a while to push it out of the room and to the front door of Mavis's house.

"It took us more than a minute just to get it this far," Mavis sighed. "How are we going to get this to the beach in time?" She kept pushing the cannon as she spoke.

As it rolled out of the door, Natsu frowned. "I dunno. I guess I could get the gems to come here and help – _holy crap!"_

Mavis turned around to see what Natsu was looking at. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of the Red Eye, now a huge orb in the sky, rapidly moving closer to the beach. "We can't make it in time!"

"Yes we can!" Natsu pushed against the cannon with his shoulder, trying to move it faster. Mavis, deciding that it was best to at least try, helped him.

"You two!" Dimaria and Wahl were running toward them. Dimaria reached them, putting her hands on her hips. "So you found it, huh? You're certainly taking your time with getting it to the beach."

"Don't blame us!" Natsu panted. "It's… really… heavy!"

"I know a shortcut!" Wahl had reached them as well. He pointed to the east. "There's a hill over there that leads straight to the beach. We can get the cannon there faster if we roll it down the hill."

"Yes!" Mavis moved to turning the cannon in the direction of the hill. "Can you two help us?"

* * *

With one final push, the cannon rolled down the hill, landing on the sand. Dimaria and Wahl slid down after it, followed closely by Mavis and Natsu.

"Do we have to push it over _there_ now?" Natsu asked, pointing toward where the other five gems and their telescope were standing.

"No. There's no time." Dimaria grabbed the cannon and turned it toward the Red Eye. "We can fire it from here."

Wahl started frantically searching around for a switch. "Natsu! How the hell does this thing work?!"

"How should I know? I'm not my brother! Don't you know how it works? Didn't you ever see Zeref fire it?"

"We saw him fire it, but we were too far away to see how it worked," Mavis admitted. "He told us all to stand back while he fired it because it was too dangerous to be near him."

Natsu climbed onto the cannon, trying to find a switch. Suddenly, it became too bright to see; he quickly realized that his gem was glowing. The lines down the sides of the cannon began to glow as well, a black orb forming at the end of the muzzle. His eyes widened. "It's charging! Everyone stand back!"

Dimaria, Wahl, and Mavis all turned and ran toward the other gems. Natsu turned the cannon in the direction of the Red Eye, making sure it was pointing directly at it, and covered his ears.

The cannon went off.

The recoil caused Natsu to fall backwards off of the weapon. Falling onto his back on the sand, he had a clear view of the Red Eye: he saw it just as a black spear seemed to impale it. It became a ball of fire and smoke in the sky, pieces of it crashing down around the city.

"Natsu!" Ajeel was scrambling toward him over the sand. He leaned over Natsu, grinning and holding up his hand for a high-five. "You did great! The Red Eye is gone!"

Next thing he knew, Natsu was underneath a pile of the Spriggan Gems and Mavis, all trying to hug and congratulate him. Except two.

August and Invel stood completely still in horror, watching the chunks of metal falling onto the city.

"The repair costs are going to be terrible, aren't they…?" Invel sighed, adjusting his glasses.

"Natsu's paying for this. All of it," August told him. He turned to walk away, grumbling to himself. "I'm too old for this…"


	3. Chapter 3: The Lunar Sea Spire

**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! I'm hoping to have the next chapter up much quicker.**

 **Also, I'm not going to use the plot of every SU episode in this fanfiction. Some of the chapters, like the next one, won't even be based on actual SU episodes. There will also be a point much later in the story where it leaves the actual plot of Steven Universe entirely (as in, nothing from that point on is based on events in the actual show).**

* * *

Weekends could get surprisingly boring for Natsu. Sometimes he was invited to go hang out with some of his friends from school, or he found something to do somewhere in Beach City. But most of the time his weekends consisted of homework, TV shows, and buying doughnuts from Jellal and Erza, who ran the doughnut shop down the street. He could remember a few times, a couple of years ago, when he'd been invited to go on missions with the gems – but it was only occasionally, since they considered most of their missions "too dangerous" for him.

It always confused him how, even at the age of seventeen, they were still trying to protect him as if he was five. From what they told him, half of their missions weren't even dangerous. So why did they make him stay at home? Because he was half-human, and that somehow made him weaker in their eyes? They _knew_ that he was old enough to be responsible, but –

"We're back!" Natsu almost fell to the floor as Wahl climbed onto the back of the couch and leaned over him. "Did ya miss us?"

Natsu got back up, grinning. He sat cross-legged on the couch like a child about to be told a story. "Yeah! What did you guys do this time? Was it cool? Did you fight stuff?"

"We fought another gem monster," Brandish said in a bored tone. "It was a bit like a dinosaur."

"It was trying to destroy a mountain," Dimaria explained. "They're like that sometimes. No logic, just blind rage."

"And we brought back a souvenir!" Wahl pointed toward Ajeel, who was struggling to hold a strange-looking yellow bird. The bird broke free from his grasp, flying toward the glass window in the top of the door and bumping into it.

"Ajeel," Invel snapped. "I told you _not_ to let that thing go!"

"It was an accident, dumbass!" Ajeel ran after the yellow bird.

Natsu watched the small creature as it flew around, trying to find a way out. "The gem monster must've been pretty strong if all seven of you had to go," he commented. "I guess that's why you didn't take me with you, huh?"

Brandish noticed the slightly bitter tone in his voice and sighed. "We want to bring you on missions with us, but it's too dangerous. So you stay at home."

"If you'd taken me on more missions when I was a kid, maybe I would actually be able to come with you on more dangerous ones," he grumbled quietly. "Aren't there any small missions? I'm seventeen, so I can at least handle _that,_ right?"

"Do we _have_ any small missions?" Wahl asked.

Serena looked thoughtful. "Well… there _is_ that one thing that we've been putting off for ages. I guess we could take Natsu if we went and did it right now."

"But some of us will come with you to keep you from doing anything stupid," Brandish said.

"Of course. That's what I said."

Natsu grinned at them. "Seriously? Yes! Where are we going?"

"The Lunar Sea Spire," August told him. "We're supposed to place the Moon Goddess Statue at the top of the tower before midnight on June the 1st next year, otherwise the Spire will sink into the ocean."

"So, we still have plenty of time. But I suppose it's better to do it sooner," Brandish said.

"Alright, let's go!" Natsu jumped up from his seat.

"Wait." Brandish stopped him. "You should pack some food and other supplies. It's a long trip to the top of the spire. And we have several other preparations to make." She glared at Serena. "Finding the Moon Goddess Statue that was lost a few months ago, for one thing."

"If it was important, why'd you give it to Serena?" Natsu asked.

Brandish opened her mouth, then shut it again and looked at the others, who either shrugged or shook their heads.

Serena looked around at them. "Guys?"

"We don't know why we gave it to him," Dimaria admitted.

"Guys!" Serena stared at them in disbelief.

Brandish glared at him. "Better start searching." She turned toward Natsu as Serena trudged upstairs. "We're probably leaving as soon as Serena finds the statue. You should go pack your things."

Natsu took a few steps toward his room, before realizing something. "Brandish? Who's "we"?"

"Serena and I will probably be coming with you," Brandish told him. "I don't know who else."

"At least three of us should go with him," August stated.

"I'm not some kind of kid!" Natsu protested.

"First of all, we're thousands of years old. You're practically a baby compared to us," Dimaria said, ruffling his hair. "Second of all, you haven't been on a mission in at least a year."

Natsu sighed. "…Better than nothing, I guess." He turned to go and pack his bags.

"Everyone ready?"

"Yep."

"More or less."

"Can I transport us to the–"

"No, Natsu," August interrupted him.

Serena stared at him. "Why not? He needs to learn how eventually."

"This is his first mission in years," Brandish pointed out.

"Yeah, but–" Serena was cut off as the warp pad activated, transporting them away.

" – he's got to practice sometime, right?" He stopped, looking around him, and then back to Natsu.

Natsu was standing smugly between Brandish and August, his arms folded and a proud grin on his face. "See? Told you I could do it!"

"…Well, now we know that he's capable." Brandish patted Natsu on the shoulder. "Maybe we'll let you warp us back later."

As the other three headed toward the tower, Natsu pumped his fist. "Yes!"

The tower was a crumbling structure of white stone, ivy and moss growing out of the many cracks in the walls. Between the plateau they had warped to and the entrance to the tower, there was a deep gorge with a river at the bottom, accounting for the distant sound of rushing water. All around them were towering cliff faces, obscuring this place from the rest of the world.

Serena leaned over the edge of the gorge, then leapt back when he realized how deep it was. He stared at the gap between them and the tower, horrified. "How are we supposed to get across there?"

"We could jump," Natsu suggested, before realizing how stupid that sounded – the space between them and the tower was farther than any of them could jump.

"I doubt it," August replied.

"I mean… if we found something to propel us across, maybe we could jump." Serena shrugged. "But none of us have anything that we could use for that."

"Jumping is obviously out of the question, we have nothing to propel ourselves across with, we can't build a bridge…" Brandish began listing off the things they couldn't do. She paused. "Natsu, what are you doing?"

Natsu was kneeling on the ground, rooting through the backpack he had brought. "Checking to see if I have rope or something. Remember those movies I used to watch when I was a kid? With the guy who swung around on ropes and stuff?"

"…Would that work?"

"It's worth a shot."

"Natsu, this isn't a video game," August pointed out. "If we fall into the gorge, we aren't going to get another try. Are you absolutely confident that this will work?"

"Pretty confident," Natsu replied.

He turned around to see that Brandish had summoned her whip, the end of which was coiled tightly around a stone pillar higher up in the tower. "It might still be dangerous," she said. "Serena should go first."

"Why me?!"

Without responding, Brandish handed him the butt of the whip and gestured for him to swing across the gorge. Serena stared at her in somewhat over-exaggerated horror. Rolling her eyes, Brandish moved behind him and roughly shoved him.

Serena shrieked in terror as the ground seemed to disappear from beneath his feet. Suddenly, he was flying, his sweaty hands clutching the whip for dear life.

With a loud _smack,_ he hit the wall of the tower face-first, hanging a few feet above the ground. Letting go of the whip, he slowly slid down until he was lying on the ground, staring dazedly at the sky above him.

"…Looks safe enough," Brandish commented. She summoned another whip and lashed it around the same pillar as the last one, then gestured for Natsu and August to grab the butt of the whip as well.

Natsu glanced down at where Serena had landed as he grabbed the whip. "Is he okay?"

Brandish shrugged. "We'll find out when we get down there." She leapt from the edge of the canyon, flying across to the other side, bracing her feet against the wall of the tower to prevent the three of them from ending up like Serena. They let go of the whip and landed on their feet around the entrance to the tower.

"Hey. Serena?" Natsu nudged him with his foot. "You okay?"

"Please tell me you didn't crack your gem." August sighed in exasperation.

Still shocked, Serena reached up and touched the orange gem in his forehead. He shook his head slowly. "Doesn't feel cracked. I think my nose took the worst of the hit."

"What happens when your gem cracks?" Natsu asked.

"You don't want to know," Brandish answered, entering the tower.

The inside of the tower wasn't in much better shape than the outside. The torches in their brackets on the walls had long ago burned out for good. A half-collapsed staircase led up to the next floor of the building, some of the steps missing.

Brandish sighed. "What a shame…"

Serena nodded in agreement. "This place was pretty awesome when it was built. But yeah, I guess this kind of thing is bound to happen over hundreds of years." He started heading up the stairs, followed by Brandish, August, and Natsu.

"When was this place built? What's it for?" Natsu asked.

"Hundreds of years ago, Earth was supposed to be a colony," August answered.

"This place was gonna be… something like what you humans call a church," Serena continued. "Moon goddess. Place of worship. All that stuff."

"Would there be gems here besides you guys if Earth became a colony?" Natsu received nods from both of them in response. "Why didn't it?"

"It couldn't," Brandish answered, cutting off both Serena and August. "It would've hurt the planet."

Natsu stared at her and opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he noticed August shaking his head. Best not to say anything else.

Serena reached the top of the staircase and stopped suddenly, causing Brandish to nearly walk into him. She glared at his back, before leaning to the side and seeing exactly why he stopped.

"What're those?" Natsu asked, leaning to the other side.

The marble floor was infested with what looked like beetles almost the length of Natsu's forearm, their shells made of pale, sharply pointed gem shards.

"They're crystal beetles. Parasites from Homeworld," Brandish explained. "They somehow got onto the ships when gems first came to this planet. I guess they've been living here since then."

"Great." Serena groaned. "How are we going to get past them?"

"We could just walk," Natsu suggested.

"No, we can't," August told him. "They're covering almost the entire floor. Chances are one of us will step on one and damage our feet."

"Or worse, trip over one and land on top of a whole bunch of them," Serena added. "Small enough to step on, but big enough to trip over. That's why everyone hated them back on Homeworld."

"…Would bug spray work on them?" Natsu asked.

"Bug spray?" All three of them turned toward him.

Brandish frowned. "Is that the stuff humans spray on themselves in the summer to keep insects off?"

"Yeah. I brought some." Natsu reached for his backpack again. "It's worth a shot, right?"

The other three watched as Natsu pulled out a small silver can, aiming it at the carpet of parasites on the floor. He aggressively sprayed the can's contents at them.

The beetles practically fell over each other in their scramble to get out of the way. His face splitting into a grin when he saw that his idea was working, Natsu began to walk through the crowd, keeping the bug spray can aimed at the floor to clear a path all the way through. After a moment of glancing at each other and shrugging, the other three followed him to the staircase on the other side of the room.

Natsu turned toward them, still grinning like a madman.

"I didn't think that would work," Brandish commented, looking back at the beetles, which were now moving back to the space they cleared when they smelled the bug spray. "…Still, good work, Natsu."

"Thanks! So, how many floors does this place have?" Natsu asked as they turned around to head up the next staircase.

"I think there are about five, plus the roof, where the moon goddess shrine is," August answered. They had reached the third floor; there were no obstacles between them and the next staircase, but they still proceeded with caution.

Brandish almost fell flat on her face as the floor beneath her feet suddenly started trembling. Her eyebrow twitching in rage, she slowly turned around to glare at the other three. "Which one of you triggered that?"

Natsu and Serena glanced at each other, before they both took a step back and examined the tiles before them. August stared down at the tile he had just stepped on. As they searched, puzzled, for the tile that had activated this apparent trap, a few chunks of white stone fell past the window and crashed into the lake at the bottom of the chasm.

Serena gasped. "Wait! August, you were counting down the years before the tower collapsed, right?"

"…Yes." After a few moments, August groaned. "Oh gods, I skipped a year a few decades ago. I've been meaning to check it off of the countdown, but I never seemed to–"

"We're supposed to get the moon goddess statue to the top this year, not next year!" Serena yelped, turning around and dashing toward the stairs. The other three barely hesitated before they followed him, taking the steps two at a time.

"Damn," Brandish sighed as they reached the next floor. A solid wall of rocks had fallen in front of them, blocking the staircase. "We don't have time to move the rocks. We'll need to climb over them."

"There's no time! We gotta destroy 'em!" Natsu reached toward his gem, before remembering that he didn't have full control over his abilities yet and turning toward Serena instead. "Serena, hit 'em with the hammer!"

Instantly, Serena's face lit up. "Got it!" The hammer seemed to appear out of nowhere. Gripping it, he charged toward the pile of rocks.

The other three quickly turned their heads away, shielding their faces with their arms as tiny bits of rock shot everywhere. Coughing and frantically waving his arms in an attempt to clear the dust around him, Serena cautiously opened one eye.

Only a few of the rocks had been destroyed, but others had fallen out of the way far enough for them to easily climb through. Serena scrambled over the remaining rocks and to the staircase, the other three following his lead.

Natsu froze as the tower stopped shaking. "Hey, it stopped! We're safe after all!"

"No, we're not!" Serena grabbed his wrist and started tugging him up the stairs. "It's gonna start again in a few minutes! We've gotta hurry!"

Brandish and August, ahead of the other two, stumbled onto the next floor. They glanced around them, then assumed battle stances.

"I thought their queen would be here somewhere," Brandish mumbled.

"Queen?" Serena all but shouted as he reached the tiled floor. He stared straight ahead at the creature that was scuttling around the floor, sniffing the air, seeming to have picked up their scent.

It looked like the beetles from earlier, but significantly larger; it was six and a half feet long and definitely too big to step on.

Natsu's immediate response was to draw the can of bug spray from his bag and spray it at the "queen beetle". She turned toward him, the bug spray settling in small clouds on her crystal shell. After a few moments of simply staring at Natsu, she roared and lunged toward him.

"Okay, so bug spray doesn't work!" He dived out of the way, skidding across the floor. "We're gonna have to fight it!"

The other three immediately summoned their weapons and charged at the queen beetle. Natsu turned and began searching through his bag for something he could use to help them.

Serena cursed as his hammer barely left a scratch on the queen's shell. "That should've at least cracked it!"

"We don't need to beat her," August told him. "Just get past her!"

Natsu froze as he heard this. As much as he wanted to beat the daylights out of the queen beetle, it would take ages with a shell that hard, and August was right – they really didn't need to, they just had to get past her. He was snapped back to reality as the tremors resumed, and began searching through his bag, but not for something to defeat the monster.

Behind him, the other three attacked again. The creature grabbed the end of Brandish's whip between her pincers and flung her across the room, swinging around and hitting August hard in the face. She barely flinched at another blow from Serena's hammer, simply head-butting him out of the way.

"Found it!" Natsu triumphantly held up one of the cookies he had packed.

Brandish, rubbing her head from the impact with the wall, stared at him blankly. "When I asked you to pack food, I was thinking of something a bit healthier."

Ignoring her, Natsu waved the snack around in the air. "Hey, bug face! You see this?"

The bug turned toward him, her gaze shifting to the cookie. Her faceted eyes followed it as Natsu waved it around. Without warning, she lunged at him.

Grinning, Natsu turned around and hurled the cookie toward the staircase to his left – the one they had come up from the fourth floor in order to get here. The queen beetle changed directions to follow the cookie, turning her attention away from the gems.

The four of them turned and ran toward the staircase leading to the roof, knowing that it wouldn't take the beetle very long to catch and consume the cookie.

Natsu was two steps up when he realized that he had left his bag lying half-open in the middle of the floor. He spun around to see Serena swiping it off of the ground as he ran by, fishing through it for the moon goddess statue.

"August!" Serena yelled, lifting the object up as a signal that he was about to throw it.

August caught the statue and ran up the next few steps, seeing Brandish ahead of him and Natsu even further ahead. The former glanced over her shoulder, seeing him draw back his arm to throw the statue and extending her own arm to catch it. It landed in her palm, and she turned back around, shouting to get Natsu's attention.

Natsu reached back and caught the statue, running at full speed across the roof. Beneath him, the floor shook, already beginning to crumble as midnight approached. He could see the pedestal where the moon goddess statue was supposed to be placed: it was almost within throwing distance. He took a deep breath and drew back his arm, and as the staircase behind him began to drop into the ocean below, he threw the statue toward it with all his strength.

It spiralled through the air toward the pedestal. Natsu practically held his breath; it was so close. A proud grin spread across his face as he watched it arc across the night sky, clearly about to land in the desired location…

It didn't.

It bounced off the corner of the pedestal and fell to the ground.

Natsu's mouth dropped open. For several seconds, he stood there in shock. Everything around him seemed to be frozen: the tower, the three gems behind him, himself.

Then the ground gave way beneath him.

Serena flailed madly as he fell. Brandish tried to grab a piece of falling debris, to no avail. August barely moved, still in shock – he'd been absolutely certain that the statue would land on the pedestal.

Natsu swiped at the air above him, trying to grab his backpack, which was still wide open. Turning over, he rolled the bag underneath his body, bracing himself for impact with the shallow water below him.

With a loud _splash,_ the four of them landed in the water and scrambled onto the tiny beach at the base of one of the nearby mountains.

It took a few minutes for the last of the tower to crumble into the sea. The gems sat there and stared at it with a mix of irritation, disbelief, and sorrow.

Serena turned toward Natsu. "Natsu? Did you by any chance pack an inflatable raft or something?"

"Yeah!" He grabbed his bag and started fishing through it for the raft.

"It won't be any good," Brandish said, cutting off whatever Serena was about to say. "We have nothing to inflate it with."

"So, how _are_ we going to get home?" Serena asked.

Brandish sighed and looked around. "We don't have much of a choice. We need to build a raft."

It had been four hours since they started in the direction of the Spriggan Gems' home. Natsu, being the only one who needed sleep, was out cold and snoring like a chainsaw. Serena had been snacking on the various sweets Natsu had packed in his bag, and had been high on sugar for the several hours. Brandish and August, who were rowing, had had to put up with three hours of songs about schnitzels.

The house was visible at the top of a cliff by the beach, the windows still alight with a dim yellow glow. As the raft slid onto the sand, Brandish gently shook Natsu to wake him up. Serena's off-key voice echoed across the empty expanse of sand as they headed toward the wooden stairs leading to their home.

"Where have you been? It's half past five in the morning." Invel's arms were folded, his glare fixed on the four gems seated on the couch before him. "You were supposed to be back just after midnight."

"Why didn't you just warp back?" Ajeel asked, lying on his side on the opposite couch.

"The warp pad fell along with the rest of the tower," Brandish told them.

There was silence for several seconds.

"What?" Invel asked coldly.

"We failed," Brandish responded.

Ajeel sat up, frowning. "How? You weren't supposed to get the statue to the tower until next year, right?"

"We thought so, but _someone_ missed a year on the countdown." Brandish shot August a glare, which was answered with a groan.

"So the Lunar Sea Spire is gone." Invel narrowed his eyes at them.

"It's not a big deal," Ajeel said from behind him. "It wasn't even that important to us. Just to… y'know… them."

"Them?" Natsu asked.

"We'll explain it to you one day," Invel said, clamping a hand over Ajeel's mouth to keep him from speaking. "Still, the four of you failed, and I believe that means we should keep Natsu from going on more missio–"

Serena had crashed from his sugar high several minutes ago and had been half-asleep in his seat. However, upon hearing this, he snapped back to attention and stood up. "Wait, no! Let him go on more missions with us! It wasn't his fault we failed!"

Brandish nodded. "He was the one who got us to the top of the spire in the first place."

"I was the one who forgot a year," August reminded Invel.

Serena was nodding the whole time the two of them were speaking. "He came up with the idea of swinging across the gorge to get to the tower! And he used that human bug spray stuff to get rid of a bunch of crystal beetles we found! And he got us past the queen so that we could get to the top of the spire!"

Invel turned to Natsu. "You did?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah."

"I don't see a reason why he can't go on missions with us more often," Ajeel said, shrugging. "Seems like he was pretty helpful."

After a long moment, Invel sighed. "Alright, he can come with us. Provided he's not at school or doing something else at the time."

"…So I don't get to skip school for the missions and stuff?"

"No. You need your education."

"Aww." Natsu slumped in his seat, watching as the others stood up and left; some heading into the kitchen, some going upstairs. However, a grin tugged at the corners of his lips; the Spriggan Gems had always been helping him, worrying about him, trying to keep him safe.

Maybe now it would be his turn to help them.


	4. Chapter 4: Humans of Beach City

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. It's summer vacation now, so updates should be more frequent over the next few months.**

 **Also, yeah, this chapter is kind of all over the place. But its main purpose is to introduce some of the human characters and tell more about Natsu's past.**

* * *

Citizens of Beach City often wondered exactly what the Spriggan Gems _were._ Ghosts? Witches? Some sort of sea creature? Where did they come from? And why were they here?

Among the people asking these questions, at one point, was Mavis Vermilion. Zeref, the Spriggans' leader, had tried to explain it to her, but he wasn't very clear about it and had a tendency to use a lot of alien terminology; the only thing she really understood from the explanation was "they're aliens".

So naturally, it came as quite a shock when one of them was suddenly in her care; while she was intelligent, she had absolutely no experience with children.

From what she understood, Natsu was what remained of Zeref, who had given up his physical form in order for his brother to be born. He was small, with a circle of black obsidian embedded in his forehead, just like the brother who had sacrificed himself for him. This made it clear that he was half-gem.

But he still acted like a human baby.

For a while, Mavis's life was like hell on earth. She was woken up several times a night by his crying, she was on the verge of losing her job, and the things she needed for him were draining her money like a leech sucking blood.

Still, it was her responsibility to take care of him until he could move in with the Spriggan Gems, and she was going to fulfill her duty. There was no way she was putting the child up for adoption – she knew that she, as the one who had been closest to Zeref, was the only human they were willing to let raise him. Even if it meant she had less time to work.

Thankfully, she was able to put a bit more focus on her job once Natsu started school. But that's not to say it wasn't still a pain…

* * *

The teacher, a young woman named Mirajane Strauss, sat on with her hands folded on her lap. Though she smiled sweetly, her concealed irritation was obvious. Across from her, Mavis shifted nervously on her stool.

"Miss Vermilion, right?" Ms. Strauss smiled at her. "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"…No," Mavis answered truthfully, shaking her head.

"Well," Mirajane began. "Your… son?"

"Brother-in-law."

"Your brother-in-law isn't very well-behaved. He keeps on getting into fights. Do you know any way we could help him to get along better with the other kids?"

"…I don't know," Mavis answered, stunned. She hadn't known that Natsu had been getting into fights – why hadn't he told her about this?

Mirajane seemed to read her mind. "Did he not tell you?"

"No. He told me he fell and got a bruise on the side of his face."

"Oh, that bruise was from Gray. He and Gray seem to fight an awful lot, no matter how hard I try to keep them away from each other…"

Mavis groaned, burying her face in her hands. "…I'll have to talk to him about this."

* * *

Wahl snorted with laughter. "I dunno where he got it from. Both of his parents were pretty peaceful."

Brandish thought for a moment. "Maybe he got it from Zeref."

"Nah, Zeref was a nice guy," Ajeel answered. "Natsu is savage."

Every head in the room turned to the pink-haired child who was clumsily running around the room, giggling as he chased some sort of insect that had gotten into the house.

Mavis groaned again. "I don't know what to do! How do we stop him from getting into fights?"

Dimaria stared at her. "Why stop him? It's good practice. Don't forget, he's going to be fighting alongside us when he grows up."

"Not against other people!"

"Practice is practice."

Mavis sighed. "I don't think you quite understand, Dimaria. Here on Earth, you can get into serious trouble for getting into fights." She turned her worried gaze to Natsu. "What if this continues all the way through school? What if it gets worse? What if he gets into a huge fight and gets arrested and – and –" She reached up to wipe away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Serena sat up. "Hey, calm down. Natsu's not going to get arrested."

Mavis looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears. She smiled. "I hope you're right, Serena."

"Of course I am. If the police come after Natsu, we'll pack him into a suitcase and run to the opposite side of the world." He grinned. "Natsu's not getting arrested. Not on our watch."

Mavis's face fell. There were several long moments of silence. "…I was kind of hoping there was some way we could get him out of this habit. You know, so that the police don't come after him in the first place…"

Invel looked thoughtful. "Well, I suppose you could try punishing him whenever he gets into fights."

"We're already doing that. It's not working."

"You could try rewarding him when he _doesn't_ fight instead," Dimaria suggested.

"…With what?"

Dimaria shrugged. "I dunno. Candy? Money? Kids like money."

* * *

Though things got better when Mavis started offering Natsu candy, the problem was never entirely solved. Natsu got into fights less, but he still fought; mostly Gray, but occasionally Gajeel, Erza, or Jellal (even if his fights with the last two tended to be a bit one-sided, since both of them were much stronger than him).

Of course, some of the Spriggan gems weren't exactly upset about this.

"He already has experience!" Ajeel was grinning from ear to ear, blocking Natsu's punches, his knees bent slightly so that he was at the same height as the ten-year-old. "'Maria, come feel this! He can actually punch!"

"Oh, really?" Dimaria smirked, raising her arms to defend her face. "Let's see you try to hit me, pipsqueak."

Natsu leapt toward her, swinging his fists wildly. "No fair! I can't reach your face! Dimaria, that's not fair!"

Dimaria's smirk widened. "Maybe when you're taller you'll be able to – _oof!"_ She hunched over as Natsu's fist collided with her stomach.

Ajeel snickered as Dimaria fell to the ground, clutching her stomach, her expression one of pure shock. "You deserved that, 'Maria."

"You two, stop messing around," Invel snapped. "He's only ten. You can't expect him to be tall, Dimaria."

She stared at him, offended. "I was tall when I was ten!"

"Yes, but you've looked the same your entire life. You were born the way you look now," Invel pointed out.

Natsu piped up. "Woah, seriously? You guys are aliens, right? Are you immortal? How old are you?"

Invel sighed. "Only a few thousand years old. There are much older gems back on the planet we came from, mind you. We're not _that_ old." He glanced over his shoulder at the others, who were standing around a barbecue. "Except August. He was one of the oldest living gems. There were only thirty or so gems on the entire planet who were older than him."

The child's eyes were sparkling. "So you _are_ immortal?"

"Not exactly," Brandish replied, joining them. "If our gems are shattered, we die. But if they aren't, we can live for a very, very long time. Maybe forever. Nobody's sure."

"That's _so cool_!" Natsu jumped up and down, sending small puffs of the beach's sand in all directions. "Am I immortal, too?"

"Maybe." Brandish allowed a small smile to form on her face.

" _Awesome!_ " Natsu dashed over to the barbecue, where the others stood. "Mavis! Guys, guys! Did you hear that? I'm immortal!"

Mavis laughed, reaching down to ruffle his hair.

Dimaria turned toward Brandish. "Do you think he really is?"

Brandish's smile had disappeared, replaced by an expression of empty sadness. "I don't know. Being a gem might extend his lifespan past that of most humans, but…"

Ajeel watched as the child ran around Wahl's legs, still bragging about being immortal. "If he has a human body, d'you think he can… be killed the same ways normal humans can?"

Invel stared blankly at the group around the smoking barbecue for several seconds before he spoke.

"I hope we never find out."

* * *

"So, you live with those fairies on that cliff by the beach now?" Jellal leaned against the edge of the kitchen counter, leisurely scrubbing the china dish in his hand with a sponge.

Natsu glared at him. "Hey! They're not fairies!"

"What are they, then?" Jellal added the clean dish to the neat stack next to him and picked up another dirty one. "Ghosts? Witches? Some sort of sea creature?"

"They're aliens! They came from another galaxy to protect our planet! Not witches!"

This caught the attention of the kitchen's other occupant. "Defend our planet? From what?" Erza asked, turning toward them.

"I… I…" Natsu seemed to deflate. "I dunno."

Jellal snickered. "I bet that's just something he made up to make them sound cool."

"Jellal!" Immediately, he was fixed with a fierce glare from Erza. "We know nothing about the Spriggan Gems. They might be aliens like Natsu says."

"Yeah! Why don't you go ask them?"

"Ask them what? If they're aliens?" Jellal folded his arms. "Maybe you're the kind of person to go around doing that. But it's creepy to just walk up to someone and ask if they're an alien."

"You're the one who wanted to know what they are," Erza pointed out.

"Pretty sure they're fairies."

Natsu was almost shaking with rage. "They're not–"

"Natsu, give it a rest." Erza turned around and went back to washing the dishes. "Let him believe what he wants."

Natsu stuck his tongue out at Jellal and returned to washing the dishes.

* * *

"Natsu, focus!"

Natsu glared straight ahead, gritting his teeth in irritation. "I _am_ focusing, August!"

"Not hard enough, obviously." August sighed in exasperation, assuming a battle stance. "Let's try again. Clear your mind; put all of your energy into summoning your shield."

"Okay, okay. I'll try." Natsu closed his eyes, trying to focus.

A few seconds passed. August sighed again. "Maybe you're just too young yet."

"I'm not! I can do this! Watch me!" Natsu's entire body tensed, his eyes squeezing shut as he poured all of his focus into the shield.

"Natsu, it's time for us to return to the temple anyway. You can try again tomorrow."

Natsu's body seemed to deflate. "Aww… okay."

* * *

Ajeel leaned back in his seat, frowning. "I'm starting to think the kid doesn't even have powers."

"Don't say that. Of course he does. He's still an Obsidian." Invel glared at him from the opposite couch.

"Yes, but he's human as well." Brandish glanced at Natsu out of the corner of her eye – he was in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich. "…I don't know. Maybe it will just be a lot harder for him than it is for us."

"Either way, he's certainly having some difficulty," Dimaria commented.

Serena shrugged. "He'll be able to do it. Just wait and see."

* * *

"He can't do it."

It was five years later. Natsu was fifteen. And he _still_ wasn't able to summon his shield.

Brandish rolled her eyes. "Wow, Serena. Weren't you the one insisting that he would be able to do it eventually?"

"He can't." Serena stared hopelessly at the expanse of sand before him as Natsu collapsed against the wall of the cliff. "He's doomed."

"Don't be so dramatic!" Wahl climbed up and perched on the fence next to where Serena stood. "He's gonna get it eventually." He watched as Natsu stood up, tried again, and then fell back into his previous position. "…At some point." Again. "…For sure. I mean, half of him is freakin' _Zeref,_ guys!" And again. "…He's gotta be able to do it." And again. "…Nah, you're right, he can't."

Invel's elbow sharply collided with Wahl's stomach, knocking him off of the fence. "He can. You just need to be patient."

Wahl climbed back onto the fence, seemingly unfazed. "I dunno, Invel. It's been years."

"I said it already, Wahl. _Patience_."

"That's what you said five years ago!" Wahl whined.

"Patience means you must wait for a long time, not a mere five years. Just wait. He'll be able to do it." With that, Invel turned back toward Natsu, ignoring any further protests.

* * *

"Does it even do anything?"

"Of course it does, ice-for-brains! D'you think it's just for decoration?"

Gray squinted at Natsu. "I've never seen it do anything."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, Natsu. Are you sure it's not just… there? I don't think it really has magical properties."

"It does! I'll show you when I learn to use it."

"…When you learn to use it." Lucy smiled. "So, what you're saying is that it has magical properties, but you've never been able to use them. So you can't be sure that it _does_ have magical properties."

Gray nodded. "You don't know that it's magical until you've actually seen it do magic."

"It is! All the others' gems are!" Natsu stared at them in disbelief. "It must be."

"Yeah, but they're aliens," Lucy pointed out. "You're half-human."

"And half-alien!"

"Only half? That means that you only have half of the abilities they do." Gray smirked.

Natsu paused. "…It does?"

"Well, yeah. Logically, it kinda does," Lucy replied.

"…No way! I'm gonna be just as strong as they are!"

Gray rolled his eyes and snorted. "Whatever you say…"

* * *

Dimaria stood up at the sound of the door slamming. "Natsu, don't slam the door. It shakes the house."

Natsu stormed past her, toward his room, tossing his bag onto the floor and flopping down onto his bed.

Sighing, Dimaria strolled into his room. "Something wrong? …Need to talk?"

After a few moments, Natsu peered up at her from beneath the sheets. "Do you guys think that being half-human means that I can't do all the same stuff you do?"

"Of course not. Who's been saying things like that?"

"Gray and Lucy. And a bunch of others. It happened at school today." He rested his head on the pillow. "They said that since I can't show them my powers, I must not have any."

Dimaria perched on the edge of the bed. "Then the solution is obvious, right?" She grinned down at him. "You learn to control your powers and show them that they were wrong."

"It's been five years. If I haven't got it by now–"

"That's not like you!" Dimaria's head whipped around. "Are you sick? The Natsu I know would never say something like that." He simply stared at her. She continued. "Just because it's been five years doesn't mean that you should give up. You have to keep trying, no matter how long it takes. I know this speech is cheesy, but it's true, okay?"

"Huh…" Natsu thought about it for a moment. "You're right! I gotta keep trying until I can prove Gray and Lucy wrong!"

"That's the spirit." She stood up, the bed creaking in response. "So, want to go practice right now?"

"Hell yeah!" Natsu sat bolt upright.

Dimaria's eyes widened in alarm. "Natsu!"

"What?" Suddenly, Natsu became aware of the blinding light illuminating the room. "Wait, what?!"

In an instant, Dimaria's shock became excitement. "Your gem's glowing!"

"It must be my shield!" Natsu stood up on the bed, squeezing his eyes shut and tensing his entire body. "Alright, I've got this! I'm gonna summon my shield!"

Gradually, the light faded. Natsu sighed.

"Guess it didn't work." Dimaria sat back down, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"Yeah." Natsu flopped down onto the bed. "But I was really close!"

"You were." She smiled at him over her shoulder. "Keep trying, Natsu."

* * *

"He did?"

Dimaria nodded proudly. "He was close to finally being able to use it."

Mavis smiled brightly. "I'm glad to hear he's doing so well. How has he been? You've been feeding him well, right? And he's getting enough sleep?"

"Of course he is." Serena grinned and gestured over his shoulder. "Invel freaks out at him if he doesn't eat. Or if he's still up past ten thirty at night."

She sighed in relief. "That's good. And he told me already that things were going well at school."

Ajeel nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's going pretty smoothly."

Mavis stood up. "Thank you for the tea and for telling me how Natsu's doing. I'll be going now."

* * *

Mavis inhaled deeply as she stepped outside, taking in the scent of the sea. This part of the city always seemed to be peaceful – provided the Spriggans weren't training or fighting some sort of monster here, of course.

Smiling to herself, she hopped down the wooden steps to the beach. Whether he was able to use his powers yet or not, she was proud of Natsu.

She turned back toward the house, taking it in for a few moments, before turning and heading home.


	5. Chapter 5: Valkyrie

**Author's Note: I'm going to be putting more focus on the next chapter of AUT after this, since I really need to get it finished. There are only a few more chapters to go (AUT will be around 10 chapters, give or take a few, and Obsidian will be around 40-70 chapters, maybe a bit more). But I'll still be writing Obsidian in the meantime. ^^**

* * *

"You've been obsessing over that show for days."

Natsu was sprawled across the couch – as he had been for nearly three hours now. He had moved only once: to get dinner, which he had then eaten in front of the television.

He glanced up at Brandish. "So what? I like it."

"You haven't been doing your homework," Invel snapped, striding toward the couch. "And your habit of eating in front of the television is making a mess of the couch."

Natsu stared at the crumb-covered pillows. "Oh."

"And it's almost eleven," Invel continued. "You should have been in bed half an hour ago. At the age of seventeen, you should be taking more responsibility for…"

At that point, Natsu tuned him out and turned back to the cartoon he had been watching.

Eventually, he realized that Brandish and Invel had left – probably dragged away by one of the others. Natsu spared a glance at the clock to see that it was nearly midnight… and yet he wasn't tired. That was good, he supposed; he could keep watching this show.

 _Thud._

Natsu sat bolt upright, startled by the sudden noise. His head whipped around to see the source of the sound; a cloaked figure standing in front of the door to the inner temple, glancing around furtively.

He stood up slowly, creeping toward the figure. It had to be one of the Spriggan Gems; nobody else had access to the inner temple.

"Hey!" His loud voice echoed in the silent room.

The cloaked figure spun around, assuming an offensive stance. After a few moments, they seemed to notice him, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. It's just you." The voice was definitely female – and familiar.

Immediately, he knew who she was. "Dimaria?"

Dimaria sighed and pushed back the hood. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed? Invel's going to freak out in the morning."

"So?" Natsu decided to change the subject. "Where are you going?"

"…Out."

"Out where?"

She shot a quick glance at the clock. "Just a place I've been going for the past few nights."

"…You haven't been going to a strip club or something, right?"

"Wh – no! It's completely different from a strip club."

Natsu grinned. "Then can I come with you?"

"No way. The others would kill me."

"Then I guess you must be going to a strip club, if it's so bad that you can't take me with you."

Dimaria glared down at him, but the expression quickly disappeared as she sighed again. "…You know what? Fine. You can come with me. Just _promise_ that you won't tell the others."

"I won't."

"Alright. Let's go."

* * *

The cheers were audible even from outside the building. It was a structure of plain, grey concrete, the pipes exposed in some areas – it looked like the sort of place where groups of students at Natsu's school would gather on weekends.

Dimaria walked straight up to the door, wrenching it open and stepping inside. "Follow me. I know where to go." In the black cloak, she almost seemed to disappear in the darkness of the hallway.

Natsu followed her inside, shutting the door behind him.

The announcer's voice blared throughout the room, deafeningly loud.

"…most hated fighter known to Beach City – The Valkyrie! _Cool!_ "

Dimaria tossed her cape to Natsu and stepped into the makeshift ring that had been set up inside the building. She casually strolled to her side of the ring, her gaze fixed on her opponent, sizing him up.

Said opponent was a seemingly young man wearing a smug smirk, just visible beneath the helmet which covered half of his face. Natsu had heard the announcer calling him the "Cold Emperor" or something like that.

Before Natsu was even aware that the announcer was counting down, the match began.

The two opponents moved cautiously towards each other, fists raised defensively in front of them. The Cold Emperor swung his fist at Dimaria. One hand seized his wrist, the other elbow catching his chin.

He stumbled back, trying to regain his balance – but before he could, Dimaria's fist met his temple, knocking him out cold.

Either oblivious to the anger of the crowd or just not caring, Dimaria raised both arms above her head in a sign of victory, a smirk plastered on her face. A rotten tomato smacked against her forehead. It was true that she was unpopular – the crowd wanted a fight, after all, and if she always took down her opponents that fast then they probably weren't getting one.

Laughing and wiping the tomato off, she stepped out of the ring, waving to Natsu. Grinning, he stood up and followed her out of the building.

* * *

"That was _awesome!_ " Natsu half-walked, half-bounced back toward the temple.

Dimaria slipped her cape back over her shoulders and tucked her hair into the hood. "Shh. You might wake the others up. She might not seem like it, but Randi has ears like a bat."

"Who cares if they wake up? They'll think it's awesome, too!"

"Doubt it."

Natsu stopped. "Huh?"

"They won't be pleased if they find I'm sneaking out at night. Especially if they know I've been doing _this_ ," she explained. "You know what they're like. With Invel around, it's practically against the law to have fun. It's not just him. It's August, too, and sometimes Randi, and even the others on occasion. So I've been sneaking out at night – sort of as a sign of rebelliousness against them. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Natsu nodded. "So, I have to keep it a secret?"

"Yes."

"Okay!" He strolled across the moonlit grass, stretching his arms. "Can I come with you again tomorrow night?"

"Sure. I'll wake you up when I'm leaving. Just don't be too loud, okay?"

* * *

With a startled snort, Natsu snapped awake, his wild flailing tangling his limbs in the sheets. Dimaria, kneeling next to the bed, threw her arms across him to hold him still.

"Shh!" She pressed a finger to her lips, silencing him.

For a few long moments, silence blanketed the room.

"Are we leaving?" Natsu whispered.

Dimaria nodded silently. "Let's go. And don't wake the others up."

* * *

The grass rustling beneath their feet mingled with the cheers and shouts from within the building, a sound Natsu had become used to over the past two weeks.

Dimaria stopped in front of the door. "So, Natsu. You have some experience in fighting, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Next week, they're doing a tag-team sort of tournament. Want to team up with me?"

Natsu's face lit up. "Really? I can?"

"If you want to."

"Of course I want to!" He jumped from foot to foot excitedly, throwing experimental punches at the air. "Let's go!"

Dimaria laughed. "It's not right now. It's next week. Be prepared, okay? And bring a mask or something."

* * *

"What are you working on, Natsu?"

"School project."

Serena glanced down at the table, then back at Natsu. "A mask? For school?"

"Yeah, we're doing a project on ancient people who wore masks. We're gonna decorate the classroom with them when we're done."

Serena stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Hmm. I remember those tribes, but I don't recall the masks looking anything like that…"

"It's not supposed to look like the actual tribe's masks. We're just doing our own designs."

"…Then what's the point of the project?"

"Just a fun thing we're doing as a class."

"I see." Serena struck a pose, almost whacking the back of Natsu's head. "Good luck with your project, Natsu!"

"Thanks, Serena!"

* * *

"Marie, why do you let him do that?"

Dimaria looked up from the newspaper she had been reading. "Let who do what?"

"Why do you let Natsu watch that cartoon all the time? He's barely been sleeping for the past few weeks."

"It's not hurting anyone else." Dimaria shrugged.

"Maybe it doesn't hurt us, but it's taking its toll on him." Brandish folded her arms. "Do you just not care about anyone other than yourself?"

"You're one to talk."

"Marie, you need to take responsibility at times."

"Maybe you should work on doing that yourself before telling me what to do."

"Marie!"

"Randi."

"Fine. I give up. It's like talking to a brick wall…" Rolling her eyes, Brandish turned around and walked away.

Shrugging, Dimaria went back to reading the newspaper.

* * *

"That's your mask?"

"Yeah. Like it?"

"It's… interesting." Dimaria held the mask in front of her, peering at it from all angles. "But may I ask what made you choose a… cat?"

"It's a lion!"

"Looks like a kitten."

Natsu stared at the mask. "…Fine, it's a cat."

"What are you going to call yourself? You know. Like how I've been calling myself The Valkyrie."

Natsu opened his mouth, then closed it again, realizing that he hadn't thought of a name. "Hmm…"

* * *

"...versus The Valkyrie and… err... Not a Lion?" The announcer stared down at the ring, narrowing his eyes as the two stepped in. There was the familiar woman with the yellow gemstone embedded in her skin, and beside her… was that the kid who had been showing up to watch her fight for the past few weeks?

Yes, his hair was slicked back and he wore a mask of thin fabric, but it was definitely him.

Natsu's pulse raced. The lights surrounding the ring glared almost blindingly; he could barely see the opponents. Using one hand to shield his eyes, he was able to get a look at them: a red-haired young man in armor of what appeared to be cardboard, and a purple-and-white-haired woman around the same age, wearing street clothes and a displeased expression.

Dimaria leaned down to whisper to him. "Okay, here's our plan. I'll take the stupid-looking guy wearing cardboard boxes. You take the one who looks like she doesn't want to be here."

Natsu nodded. "Okay."

The announcer spoke up again. "Three! Two! One!"

Next thing they knew, the match was beginning. The two sides moved toward each other - the cardboard-wearer seemed to be having some difficulty moving; his teammate walked as if she were simply heading to the grocery store.

Dimaria struggled to keep from smirking. Neither of them looked particularly competent. It seemed that this would be an easy fight.

This proved to be correct. It took her a matter of seconds to knock down the cardboard-wearer, and the other one was down soon after him.

She stepped out of the ring, followed closely by Natsu, who was grinning from ear to ear. Dodging the various fruits that were being hurled at them from all directions, they moved toward the staircase leading to the exit, laughing.

* * *

Days went by, and every night, Dimaria and Natsu would sneak out to the "arena". The finals of the tag-team tournament were drawing closer and closer by the night. The two kept winning round after round with ease, much to the displeasure of the crowd – numerous people insisted that they were cheating.

The finals arrived. Pressing one finger to her lips to shush Natsu, Dimaria yanked the door open and stepped inside.

Unsurprisingly, upon stepping into the ring, "The Valkyrie" and "Not a Lion" were greeted with booing and shouting from the crowd, though no fruit was thrown this time.

Natsu scanned the crowd, spotting a few familiar faces. There were some from his class at school, as well as Erza, and – was that Gray holding a "Not a Lion is an ass" sign?

Suddenly remembering the fight, he turned to see their opponents – the announcer had called them "Flame God" and "Time Traveller". Dimaria mumbled something to him about those being "pretty stupid names". He nodded in agreement; even if his own name wasn't the best, those two were far worse.

The opposing team stepped toward them cautiously, fists raised.

Dimaria leaned down to Natsu's ear and whispered a brief plan. "You fight the Flame God. I'll fight the Time Traveller."

Natsu nodded, moving toward their opponents and assuming a fighting stance. This was it: the finals. How strong did the opposing team have to be to get this far? Would he and Dimaria lose? The fights had become progressively more difficult for him throughout the tournament. This one would be the hardest – would they lose?

He was deaf to the shouting of the crowd, his racing pulse the only thing filling his ears. He raised his fist, preparing to throw the first punch –

Before he could land a single hit, the Flame God was crumpled on the floor, a whip coiled around his ankles.

The crowd went silent. The Time Traveller stared in disbelief at her fallen teammate, looking around frantically for whoever had knocked him down – but before she could spot them, she was struck in the back by an arrow, collapsing onto the floor.

Two familiar figures leapt into the ring, standing in front of the fallen team.

"Marie, what do you think you're doing?"

"I could ask the same of you two." Dimaria stared at Brandish and Invel.

"We came here to stop you from doing something irresponsible," Invel snapped. "Did you really drag Natsu into this? No wonder he's been so tired lately."

Dimaria glared at him. "I'm not being irresponsible! I'm just trying to actually enjoy myself for once!"

Invel returned the glare. "Then why did you find it necessary to bring a human – who, in case you forgot, actually _needs sleep_ – along with you?"

"He wanted to come." Dimaria narrowed her eyes. "And maybe it would do him some good to get out of the house for something other than school, missions, and food."

"We never said he couldn't," Brandish pointed out. "We just said that he had to get his homework done first and go to bed at a reasonable time."

Invel nodded. "It's important. This will affect his future."

"Is that all you care about?!" Natsu interrupted. "My grades? My future?" He paused. "I mean, yeah, that stuff's really important, but there's other important stuff. You gotta have a balance between work and fun stuff, y'know?"

"This isn't a balance," Invel snapped. "This is putting off your responsibilities in order to do silly things."

Natsu opened his mouth to respond – but his response was silenced as he became aware of the chanting.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Dimaria grinned, her sword materializing in one hand. "How about we give them what they want?"

"If it's the only way to knock some sense into you…" Brandish sighed, her whip reappearing in her grasp.

Invel nodded in agreement. Around them, the crowd roared and cheered.

Before she could move, a whip coiled around Dimaria's sword and wrenched it out of her grip. She narrowly avoided an ice-blue arrow as it shot past her ear, lodging itself into the wall behind her and vanishing.

Dimaria sprinted to regain her sword, but instead found herself blocking Brandish's fist with one palm. Ducking between Brandish's legs, she snatched the blade and rolled forwards, standing up and reassuming her fighting stance. Brandish's whip slipped from her hand as Dimaria sharply tugged the sword, the whip still wrapped around the long blade.

Natsu ducked as another arrow shot over his head, missing him by several inches. He dashed toward Invel and swung his fist, hitting him square in the side of the face. Invel's foot struck his shin; Natsu grabbed his leg, tripping him.

He winced at the crack of Invel's head against the concrete. That didn't sound good… but then again, Invel was a gem. He probably wouldn't suffer any serious damage.

Dimaria, meanwhile, charged toward Brandish. Instead of dodging, Brandish attempted to block her attack, and found herself slamming into the floor as she was knocked over.

Natsu and Dimaria stood triumphantly over their opponents, waving to the cheering crowd. The announcer's voice blared across the room in announcement of their victory, echoing off the stone walls.

* * *

"So, why did you lose on purpose?"

Natsu nodded. "I thought you were gonna knock some sense into us or something."

Invel and Brandish exchanged a glance. "We didn't want to embarrass you in front of that entire crowd after you came so far. So we decided to let you win," the former explained.

"And we weren't even supposed to be participants in the tournament. What would they have done with those belts if we had won?" Brandish asked, gesturing toward the golden belts Natsu and Dimaria held.

Dimaria blinked. "That's… surprisingly nice for you two." She hesitated. "Thank you."

Brandish hesitated, then smiled back at her.

"So… will we be allowed to go back there?" Natsu turned toward Invel.

"I don't believe Dimaria's participation is fair to the other competitors," Invel replied. "She doesn't suffer from the same limitations as humans. As for you, you'll be allowed to go back once you start doing your homework."

"Aw." Natsu slumped on the couch. "…I guess that's fair."

"Speaking of which," Invel continued, "don't you have homework for this weekend?"

"…No."

"Natsu."

"Okay, okay! I have homework." He stood up and trudged toward his room. "I'll do it tomorrow. I gotta go to bed now."

Brandish nodded. "It's late."

"I need to go check on the others," Invel told them, standing up to leave as well. "Knowing Ajeel and Wahl, something was probably destroyed while we were gone." He quietly shut the door behind him as he left.

Dimaria stared at Brandish. "So, Randi, I was wondering…"

"Hm?"

"Why did you care so much about Natsu not doing his homework and all that? I thought you didn't care about hard work. You're the only one of us who actually takes breaks to sleep, and you complain about missions…"

"He wasn't getting any sleep. Sleep is important." She stood up and stretched. "Also, Invel sort of dragged me along with him because I happened to be closest at the time."

"I see." Dimaria leaned back in her seat. "I guess you're going to sleep now, huh?"

"Yeah. Goodnight."

Dimaria sighed, watching as she disappeared into the inner temple. The room fell silent apart from the distant sound of Invel shouting at Ajeel – the two were on the beach below their home, apparently arguing about something.

Rolling her eyes, Dimaria stood up and headed toward the entrance to the inner temple. The door slid shut silently behind her as she entered her own room, cutting off all sound from the outside.

Flopping down into one of her own chairs, Dimaria shut her eyes. The others were either in their rooms or outside; there didn't seem to be much to do.

Maybe sleep wouldn't be so bad after all.


	6. Chapter 6: Natsu's Cat

**A/N: Remember back when this fic updated?**

 **Sorry about the delay! I've been procrastinating on this for ages. But here's the chapter!**

* * *

More than a month had passed since the collapse of the Lunar Sea Spire. There hadn't been too many missions since then; those they had found had been deemed "too dangerous" for Natsu.

But this new mission, they had decided, would be perfect for him.

Natsu hopped down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. The Lunar Sea Spire had just been a test, as far as he was concerned – this would be his first real mission with the Spriggans.

They had given him the details earlier: they would be going to a forest to find some stone which caused a seemingly permanent storm over the area. They hadn't specified exactly what they were supposed to do about the stone, though. Natsu guessed they would destroy it, since taking it somewhere else would only bring the storm upon a different location.

He leapt over the last few steps, landing on the ground floor. "I packed my bags! When are we going? Who's coming with me this time?"

"All of us," Invel replied. "The forest is huge. We need to search the entire place to find the Rain Stone."

"So we need to split up?"

"Yep. Everyone for themselves," Dimaria replied. "But we'll have a meeting spot we'll go back to after a few hours or so."

Natsu's heart raced. He would be deep in a forest, all on his own, potentially saving a wide area from the storm that had ravaged it for years. "Awesome! Let's go!" He froze. "…Are we all gonna fit on the warp pad?"

"Ajeel, you're stepping on my foot."

"Too bad, ice queen. There's nowhere else to stand."

"Hey, Wahl. Ever heard of personal space?"

"No."

"…I'm not surprised, actually." Brandish sighed.

Dimaria folded her arms. "You know what? I'll transport us, and then–"

"Aw, c'mon!" Natsu's arm shot into the air, hitting Serena upside the face. "Let me do it! I still need practice!"

August stared at Dimaria, then at Natsu. "Dimaria, let Natsu do it. He's right."

"…Okay. Just make sure we end up in the right place."

"I will!" Natsu focused, shutting his eyes.

Seconds passed before the group was enveloped in light and transported away.

* * *

"I did it!"

The moment they landed, all eight of them stumbled off of the warp pad with shouts of annoyance – or triumph, in Natsu's case.

"I did it, guys!"

Dimaria leaned toward Brandish, murmuring in her ear. "Is he going to get this excited every time he successfully warps us?"

Brandish shrugged. "I guess he _would_ be excited about it."

"Okay, everyone!" Invel clapped his hands to get their attention, stepping onto a rock and staring down at them. "We need to make a plan. We'll all head in different directions to find the Rain Stone, then meet back here in four hours. That means we'll go about two hours into the woods, then take another two to walk back here. I'll go north–"

Ajeel glared up at him. "Who put _you_ in charge, princess?"

"I'm the most responsible one, so it makes sense that I should–"

"Hah!" Ajeel snorted. "The most responsible? You're the one who makes me do all the chores instead of, y'know, _taking responsibility_ and doing it yourself!"

"First of all, I don't make you do _all_ the chores. Just most of them." Invel returned the glare coldly. "Secondly, it's your punishment for constantly breaking things, going out of your way to get on my nerves, taking missions without so much as thinking of the rest of us…"

Luckily, over the years, the others had developed a habit of tuning out Invel and Ajeel's arguments. Most of them chose to wander aimlessly around the clearing. Serena had found a gecko under a rock somewhere and sat cross-legged in the dirt, petting it gently. Brandish stood beneath a tall tree, her head tilted back to examine the top leaves.

Natsu scratched the back of his head. "Man, this mission is already going pretty badly." He glanced around. "Hey, guys? What about the rain stone?"

"Screw the rain stone." Serena smiled down at the gecko he had found. "I have Gilbert."

"Dude, Gilbert is the worst name ever for a gecko!" Wahl kneeled next to him. "Call him Billy."

"Invel? Ajeel?" Natsu headed toward them. "Can we go on the mission already?"

"Fine! I'll take your advice and we'll see where it gets me!" Ajeel snapped. He spun around and stormed toward the western exit of the clearing.

"And I'll use _your_ idea and prove to you that it's doomed to fail miserably!" Huffing angrily, Invel turned and strode to the east.

Natsu watched him leave. Slowly, his mind processed the fact that the one in charge had left – and nobody else was taking over. He grinned, leaping up onto the rock. "I'm in charge! I'm the leader! Whoo!"

"Enough, Natsu." August raised a hand. "I'm the leader. I'll organize everyone."

Natsu's face fell. "What?"

"Natsu…"

"...Aw. Okay." Natsu sighed and stepped off of the rock dejectedly.

* * *

It took August a minute or so to get everyone's attention.

Clearly, they would need to split up to cover more ground in their search. August assigned everyone a direction at random – excluding east and west, since Invel and Ajeel already headed those ways.

He'd assigned Natsu to the northeast route.

After walking for an hour or so, the rain soaked through Natsu's clothes, leaving him freezing and drenched. Water dripped from his hair into his eyes, blurring his vision. And _still_ he had found no sign of the Rain Stone.

Not the "great adventure" he'd expected, to say the least.

According to the Spriggans' description of the Rain Stone, Natsu should be looking for a blue crystal about the same height as himself. Yet the exotic blooms lining the tree trunks seemed to be the only blue in sight.

Of course, it would be deep in the forest if whoever had placed it had been so desperate to keep others from finding it. With this in mind, Natsu marched onward through the puddles and mud, unaware of his silent observer.

* * *

In the north, things were much… slower.

"Such a pain…" Brandish sighed, leaning back against the trunk of an exotic tree. Why was it always the Spriggan Gems' responsibility to fix the little things that went wrong on this planet? Corrupted gems, she could deal with. The damage caused by these corrupted gems, she could deal with. But hours of walking through a downpour to find some rock? Sure, it was a sacred stone originating from Homeworld, but couldn't the humans remove it themselves?

Brandish stood up, stretching. Even if it was a pain, she may as well keep searching…

* * *

" _Rain Stooone!_ " Serena called, cupping his hands around his mouth. He struck a pose. "You can't hide forever, Rain Stone!"

No response except the sound of the rain pattering against leaves.

"Hmm. I'll keep moving. I'm bound to find that silly rock eventually…"

* * *

"Hah!" Ajeel's foot collided with rock, flipping it over. "Stupid ice queen! Bet I won't find a thing on this route!" He stomped onward, insects and small animals scuttling to the sides of the path to avoid his rampage. Still, he had calmed down since setting off an hour ago; in fact, he slowed to a walk, then stopped completely.

 _Damn, maybe he's right about the "irresponsible" thing. I've just been stomping around without even looking. Maybe I passed the Rain Stone by now…_

 _No, wait. What am I thinking? I'm just using his idea to prove to him how wrong he was. Of course it won't be down this route._

With a snort of laughter, he continued walking.

* * *

The pattering of the rain on the leaves filled the air, the only sound in the peaceful forest. Occasionally, creatures could be seen scuttling through the foliage, seeking shelter. Despite the downpour, the scene was a peaceful one.

Until a sudden blast tore through the trees, knocking a few over and sending debris flying in all directions.

Wahl grinned as his targets fell to the ground in splinters, glancing around for any sign of a shattered rain stone. After all, if the final goal was to destroy it, why hold back?

Cackling madly, he fired another blast, smoke billowing around him and into the blue abyss of the sky.

* * *

In the south, Dimaria took a similar approach.

Her blade sliced through yet another thick trunk, the column of wood crashing to the ground. Golden eyes scanned the surrounding area – still no sign of the Rain Stone.

She chopped down another cluster of trees, stepping back as they fell to the damp earth below.

"Still no sign of it, huh?" Dimaria sighed. "Looks like whoever put that stone there really didn't want it found…"

* * *

As August continued the journey through the rainforest, he vaguely wondered how the Rain Stone, an ancient artefact from Homeworld, had even ended up in a forest on Earth. Had it been dropped from an invading ship? Put here on purpose by a spiteful gem? And just how long had it been here? He recalled that the request to remove the stone had come in quite some time ago – decades? Centuries?

Whatever the case, getting rid of it should be their sole focus right now. Grumbling, he continued in the southeast direction.

* * *

Sharp eyes darted around, scanning the area for any sign of a blue crystal. Nothing.

Invel sighed, continuing his journey east. He'd been travelling for an hour, yet still, he hadn't seen any trace of the Rain Stone. It seemed Ajeel was wrong after all – just as he had set out to prove.

 _But maybe I spoke to him a bit too harshly…_ Invel paused. _No. I only spoke the truth; I shouldn't be regretting this. After all, he really does go out of his way to annoy me – still, maybe I really did speak rudely…_

Shaking his head, he kept walking.

* * *

Natsu stopped in his tracks. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd seen a flash of blue – not the pale, dull hue of the flowers, but a much more vivid shade.

Hope lighting up his eyes, he retraced his steps, peering through the trees.

A blue creature – similar to some sort of big cat – rested in a sheltered spot beneath the trees, curled up, quite clearly asleep.

Natsu immediately forgot about the rain stone. Amazed, he carefully stepped over the bushes, creeping toward the unusual animal.

He knelt next to him. "Hey..."

The cat lazily opened one eye, peering up at Natsu. Unexpectedly, the creature made no move to run away, or even to stand up.

Trying to talk to a cat would be stupid. Could he even understand human speech, let alone respond? Even if he did, would he be any help whatsoever? Asking a cat for directions or advice would make one look like a fool.

Natsu decided to give it a shot. "Have you seen a big blue crystal around here? Apparently it's what's causing this rain."

The cat stared up at him for a few moments, before standing and stretching. He turned and walked away.

His face lighting up, Natsu stumbled through the bushes after the creature, his eyes fixed on the blue fur. Had he understood? Would he lead Natsu to the Rain Stone?

The dense forest soon opened up into a clearing. In the middle of said clearing lay a stream, rain pattering on the surface.

Natsu slowed to a halt as he entered the clearing, looking around for any sign of the stone. His shoulders slumped in disappointment as his search proved fruitless: the object was nowhere to be found.

He slumped to the ground, the weight of disappointment sinking in his stomach. "I guess you don't know where it is, huh?"

Ignoring Natsu, the cat stepped into the water, splashing around in an effort to catch fish. Natsu watched, disinterested, for a minute or so, before deciding that he should resume his search for the Rain Stone.

He stood up, dusting himself off. "Well, see ya."

The cat perked up, watching him intently as he walked away. Keeping his eyes fixed on the human, he stepped out of the water and followed him back through the trees.

Natsu paused, hearing the rustling from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. "Are you gonna follow me?"

The cat stared at him.

"…Okay." He turned and continued to pick his way through the thick barrier of plants, the cat following a few feet behind him.

Rain poured from the leaves, creating miniature waterfalls all around them. Natsu finally located the path he'd been on before, treading carefully, breaking branches to create a way through.

"See any signs of the Rain Stone?"

Of course, talking to a cat was silly. But Natsu found that it helped to alleviate the loneliness of the woods a bit.

The cat purred, bumping against his legs. Grinning, Natsu kept moving.

"Wonder how long it's been. Invel said four hours, right?" Natsu frowned. "Feels like I've been walking for ages. Wish I'd brought my watch…"

Trotting alongside him, the cat listened attentively to Natsu's aimless rambling, staring up at him.

Natsu suddenly halted, his breath catching in his throat. Had he imagined it? No – straight ahead of him, a faint blue glow could be seen through the trees…

* * *

"Where _is_ he?"

Invel paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at the treeline for any sign of Natsu.

Wahl frowned. "D'you think he found it?"

"Maybe." Dimaria glanced at the surrounding forest. "Or he was eaten."

Brandish smacked her on the arm. "Mari! Don't joke about that."

Invel glared at Dimaria. "Natsu is completely safe, I'm sure."

"I suppose our best course of action is to search for him," August grumbled. "He might be in some sort of trouble."

Serena jumped up from his seat on the ground. "Okay! Which way did Natsu go?"

"To the northeast," Ajeel replied, gesturing in the western direction.

"The northeast is that way, actually." Brandish pointed toward the south.

Serena shook his head. "That's the east, silly. The northeast is _that_ way."

Invel sighed. "Where's our compass?"

Rolling his eyes, August drew the shining object from his pocket. "It's… that way."

Almost before he finished speaking, the other six dashed in the direction he had indicated. Had the ground not been soaking wet, August swore they would have left a cloud of dust behind them. He shook his head and dropped the compass back into his pocket, strolling after them.

* * *

"Ow!"

Natsu glared at the crystal, rubbing his stinging fist.

"Stupid rock…"

A few meters away, the blue cat sat and watched curiously. He almost seemed to be mocking Natsu.

Muttering to himself, Natsu swung his fist and struck the crystal again… to no avail. "Dammit! I wish I had a weapon like the others..." He huffed and landed a few more punches, before slumping to the ground, panting.

He glanced over his shoulder at the cat. "Hey, don't think I'm giving up! I'm just taking a break, okay?"

The cat wandered over and sniffed at him, before returning to his former place and simply watching.

Natsu glanced around, wondering if he should return to the clearing to meet the others. But he had found the stone – what if he couldn't find it again after his return?

Perhaps the best thing to do was to wait around here until the others found him and the stone. They would be here eventually. In the meantime, he could work on destroying it.

Standing up again, he resumed his efforts to break the Rain Stone.

Natsu lay face-down on the grass, groaning in pain. His knuckles had become reddened and cracked from repeatedly striking the stone.

"Ugh… Not even a scratch…"

The cat purred, wandering over to sniff him carefully.

"Natsu!"

The sound of footsteps pounding the soaked ground became audible. Natsu peered up and quickly stood, vainly attempting to dust himself off. The cat scurried away from the sudden noise.

"Natsu!" Brandish hurried toward him. "Are you okay?"

Invel glanced down at Natsu's knuckles and frowned. "Were you trying to break the Rain Stone by yourself? Natsu, you shouldn't try to break a solid crystal with your bare hands!"

"Hey, he found the Rain Stone!" Cheering loudly, Ajeel climbed on top of the crystal and began to stomp on it, the sounds reverberating throughout the clearing.

Dimaria rubbed her arms, grumbling, and glared up at Ajeel. "Can we just destroy the thing and stop this rain already?"

"But it's so pretty…" Serena gently stroked the rain-speckled surface, his eyes sparkling.

August sighed and shook his head. "Wahl, just… destroy it already."

Both Serena and Ajeel suddenly shrieked in terror as a blast tore through the crystal, shattering it into tiny pieces. Ajeel crashed to the ground among the blue shards.

"Ow! Dude, what's your problem?"

Wahl grinned from behind his blaster. "Shouldn't've been standing on the thing in the first place!" He began cackling.

Natsu gaped at the mess of crystal on the ground. "…It was that easy?!"

"You should've come to us before." Serena patted him on the back.

They stood in silence, watching as the clouds overhead gradually cleared. The rain gradually slowed down to the occasional patter, then stopped. The cat purred as he felt the warmth of the sun on his blue fur.

Natsu grinned up at the near-cloudless sky. "So, I guess we were succe–"

He was cut off by Dimaria's sudden shout. "What is _that?_ "

Invel's eyes widened. "Is – is that a cat?"

Natsu grimaced. He'd nearly forgotten about the cat.

Brandish clamped her hands over her mouth. "It's… so cute…"

"Is nobody gonna point out that it has _wings?!"_ Ajeel shrieked.

Natsu cleared his throat. "Yeah, I sorta made a new friend. He's called…" He thought for a moment. "Blue!"

August raised an eyebrow. "Blue? That seems a bit…"

"Actually, my name is Happy."

Immediately, the conversation died down. For several seconds, nobody moved. Then all heads turned toward Wahl.

Wahl raised his hands defensively. "It wasn't me!"

"Well, it certainly wasn't the cat. Cats don't talk." Invel frowned.

Happy turned abruptly toward Invel. "Hey! That's rude!"

"It _is!"_ Ajeel yelled. "It's talking!"

"You're not the only one hearing it." Dimaria stared in astonishment.

Natsu stared down at Happy, bewildered. "You didn't talk earlier…"

Happy grinned. "You thought I couldn't talk? Then why were you talking to me?"

"Hey!"

Invel shook his head. "That's enough. Let's just… go home."

"No way!" Ajeel folded his arms. "Are we seriously gonna leave the talking, winged, _blue_ cat behind?"

"Yes," August cut in. "We are not having animals in the temple."

Brandish stared at him in horror. "But he's friendly. And fluffy."

"We should keep him!" Serena struck a pose. "After all, I lost Billy Gilbert the gecko somewhere in the forest."

"I put him back in the woods," Wahl reminded him. "He wouldn't last five minutes in the temple."

Serena carried on as if he hadn't heard. "…So I'm not going to return to the temple without some sort of animal to make up for my loss!"

"No," August said flatly.

"I won't let him into the temple if he keeps sassing us!" Invel glared down at Happy, who had wandered over to him.

Ajeel stared blankly at him. "But… we kept Serena."

Natsu, reaching a final decision, headed toward Happy and stood next to him. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and folded his arms. "I'm not going back without Happy."

"Natsu…" August glared at him. "You're not five anymore. Cease this behaviour."

"Such a pain… but it's so cute…" Brandish shook her head and assumed a similar position, planting herself beside Natsu. She was followed closely by Ajeel and Serena.

Wahl glanced at the cat. "…I guess he has a better survival rate than a gecko." He headed over to join them.

Invel hesitated for a long moment. He glanced down at Happy. "…Well, nobody's going to teach him to be polite if he stays out here."

"Invel. I thought you, at least, were more sensible than this."

"I'm being entirely sensible. It's important that he learns how to properly speak to people."

"He's a _cat._ "

"And?"

"He lives in the middle of the jungle. How many people will he ever be talking to out here?"

"A lot more once someone else finds him, I'd think," Brandish replied.

August froze. For a long moment, the only sound was the rustling of leaves. "…Fine. We're going home. But if that cat steps out of line, I'll personally bring him back here."

Happy stuck his tongue out at him.

Some grumbling, some pleased, the team began the two-hour trek back to the warp pad.


End file.
